"A process for re-rolling steel rail has recently been patented by Mr. E.W. McKenna, late Assistant General Superintendent of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Ry.  By careful tests Mr. McKenna ascertained that a rail wears out by deformation of the head and not by actual loss of metal.  Sections of 60-lb. rail, removed from the track and weighed, were found to have lost only 0.117 to 0.135 lb. per yd. in 10 to 14 years of service.  He, therefore, devised a process by which the worn-out rails are heated in a furnace and the deformed heads are re-rolled into the proper form.  The loss of transverse section in this re-rolling is about 2 lbs. per yd., of which part is gained in elongation, leaving the net loss only 1/2 lb. per yd. for oxidation and the same amount of loss for crop ends.  By this process, which is said to be inexpensive to carry out, a steel rail of 75 lbs. or heavier can be renewed from five to fifteen times before its section is so greatly reduced as to make it necessary to scrap it.  If Mr. McKenna's invention proves a practical success, the rail mills will have to close up or turn to other products.  The demand for rails for renewals is what the rail mills have been chiefly been relying on since speculative railway building came to an end."